On the crest of improvisation...

There we are, the old spirit recovered. You put wings on your feet and start to fly... I mean yes... fly... because walking would be too banal a word to describe what you manage to do when you're in shape. It's precisely the feeling of “flying” that takes hold of you when you feel the roar of the engines champing in your legs. You put one foot in front of the other almost without effort.

Ooooh sure, I get out of breath too... but you recover straight away and climb at a very respectable speed.

You don't know if and where you'll get to, it hardly matters; you use all your energy to enjoy the moment, the fresh air, the sun warming your shoulders, your neck, as in a tantric massage.

There's me, Massimo and Fabio; we joke, we laugh, it's a jovial moment and our goal is the summit of the Cafornia by the line of the east ridge. From 2000 metres up the mountain is covered with a nice layer of frozen snow and we can't wait to get there. The climb to 2000 m is steady and without great effort.

The high atmospheric pressure has made this day a perfect moment. Behind us a veil of low cloud has formed and from above it we enjoy that panorama, so rare during the year.

I wrote it somewhere once: a panorama like this you get to see once a year... there you go, with this outing I've already used up my luck.

The clouds rising from the Avezzano plain struggle to chase us; we look like wolves hungry for summits. When we get onto the frozen snow it's a pleasure to walk on it. It's crunchy just right. I put on my crampons and finish the climb to the summit.

Massimo and Fabio have already arrived and are eating. I've already eaten, to head off a drop in blood sugar.

But it isn't what we have done so far that counts for anything; it's what we are about to do that will give meaning to the whole day.

The clouds shut out our view of the valley. Going down by the same way we came up would be just a boring bureaucratic formality.

So, in my most creative style, I propose a loop. We go down from Monte Cafornia to Colle del Bicchero, then we slip into the Valle Majelama and go back to the car, parked right at its mouth.

I've never linked the Cafornia and the Bicchero; such a long loop on these peaks would be something new. Fabio has never been to the Valle Majelama, Massimo doesn't remember and is always up for new explorations. So, without too much dithering, off we go.

The only real unknown is how far the snow has transformed, but for once I want to be confident. From the summit of Monte Cafornia to the top of Colle del Bicchero the terrain is made up of high plateaux and rounded little tops; the snowdrifts can hide an unexpected and... nasty softness.

The landscape is magnificent, the snow hard and crunchy, there isn't even any need to put on gaiters. I've strapped my crampons onto a Salewa semi-rigid boot. It's not exactly ideal but I'm doing just fine. Some mist tries to shut off our view of the Cafornia, but we stand enraptured by the panorama opening onto the Valle dei Briganti and the Val di Teve.

Coming down from Colle del Bicchero, Fabio tests some snow stakes for anchors on snow and ice. During the tests the L-shaped stake in 9000 aluminium (home-made) seems to be more effective than the tubular stake (bought) in 5000 aluminium.

The return to the car through the Valle Majelama is a long walk in the icy shade of the mountain. A bit boring, perhaps, and it leaves our legs completely tenderised. We had come out for winter training. We knocked off 12 km of route on mixed terrain, with 1400 metres of height gain.

We're happy and satisfied, above all happy to have found out that we weren't in such bad shape with our training after all.

Another marvellous day in the mountains.